Mount Elbrus

Elbrus is a dormant stratovolcano with two summits, the western at 5,642 metres and the eastern at 5,621, carrying twenty-two glaciers, and by the usual boundary convention it is the highest mountain in Europe. Cable cars run from Azau in the Baksan valley up to 3,850 metres at Garabashi in three stages, which puts anyone with a ticket higher than any Alpine summit, with the glacier and the Caucasus main ridge in view - Ushba, Donguz-Orun and the wall running east. Above the lifts are huts, and the standard climb goes from there over glacier and snow slopes to the saddle and the western summit. It is technically straightforward, which is exactly the problem: the altitude, the weather and the sheer numbers attempting it with inadequate acclimatisation make it one of the deadlier high mountains, with deaths every season, mostly from exposure after weather changes.

History

Arrian's Periplus of about AD 130 mentions a Caucasus peak called Strobilos, where Prometheus was said to have been chained. Khillar Khachirov, a guide for a scientific expedition under General Georgi Emmanuel, reached the lower eastern summit on 22 July 1829, and an English party led by F. Crauford Grove with Frederick Gardiner, Horace Walker and the guide Peter Knubel climbed the higher western summit in 1874 (Wikipedia, Mount Elbrus).

What's there

• The two summits - 5,642 and 5,621 metres on a dormant stratovolcano.
• The cable cars - three stages from Azau to 3,850 metres at Garabashi.
• The Caucasus ridge - Ushba, Donguz-Orun and the main wall from the glacier.
• The glaciers - twenty-two of them on the mountain's flanks.

When to go

June to September for climbing; December to April for skiing. A day for the cable cars, seven to ten days including acclimatisation for the summit.

Things to know

The climb kills people every season - it is not technical but the altitude and weather are lethal, and going without acclimatisation, a guide and the ability to turn back is how the accidents happen. Registration with the rescue service is required. Even at the cable car top, 3,850 metres affects visitors. Weather closes the lifts frequently.

Nearby

Terskol and the Baksan valley are below; Jily-Su is on the northern side.

Key facts